Does sea ice play a particular role in Arctic jellyfish ecology? We evaluate the role of sea ice as a habitat for jellies in order to make predictions on their potential decrease with further sea ice decline [...] DNA analyses. Such interdisciplinary surveys allow us to link distributional patterns of jellies to sea-ice and oceanographic (sub-mesoscale) features. We apply species and community distribution models [...] of jellies in the Arctic food web, their importance for higher trophic levels and their link to the sea-ice trophic pathway will be elucidated with metabarcoding and biomarker studies. We plan to conduct

The Research Vessel Polarstern was in the Arctic for the past seven weeks. There, the summertime sea-ice extent declined by ca. 40 percent over the past 40 years – making it one of the most visible impacts [...] Polarstern investigated Atlantic Water Recirculation in Fram Strait and in the marginal ice zone north of Svalbard, as well as ocean/glacier interactions off the coast of Greenland. Central research questions [...] questions included how the ice conditions, ocean heat fluxes and ocean stratification determine sea-ice melt in the marginal ice zone (between the ice free waters and the dense pack ice) and how the melt

much faster than the rest of the world. With consequences for its sea ice. In order to gauge the thickness of ice masses in the North Pole region, scientists chiefly rely on satellites. But this method [...] now developed a method that, for the first time, makes it possible to identify changes in the Arctic sea-ice thickness for the years 2011 to 2021 – even during the summer months. The resultant data is especially

To what extent does polymetallic nodule mining impact the ecosystem in the deep sea? This is what the MiningImpact expedition SO295 with the research vessel SONNE is investigating for the next two months [...] months in the exploration contract areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the North Pacific. During the collection of polymetallic nodules, the bio-active layer of the seabed is removed and the sediments

Oceanography of Polar Seas at the Alfred Wegener Institute and Professor at the University of Bremen. Ocean currents Ocean topography of polar regions Ocean-ice sheet interaction Sea level Ocean currents [...] ecosystems in the polar seas. On the one hand they transport large amounts of heat from the mid-latitudes to the Arctic and Antarctic. Once there, this heat can delay the formation of sea ice or cause the floes [...] covering the Arctic Ocean, as well as to the sea ice in the Southern Ocean, surrounding the continent of Antarctica. On the other hand, ocean currents also transport sea ice and summer meltwater away from the

Arctic. Due to rising water temperatures, many Arctic fish species are retreating farther and farther north, while species from more temperate latitudes are increasingly being sighted off the coasts of Greenland [...] Institute have now analysed scientific publications on the ecological impacts of climate change in Arctic seas released in the past ten years. Their findings: the shifting habitats have affected entire biotic

are heard again in the recordings. Spectrogram of 20060419-0809_PALAOA (Photo: OZA AWI) Rubbing sea ice Sea ice (Photo: AWI) The underwater soundscape of the Southern Ocean is dominated by the sounds of [...] from recordings made at the edge of the ice shelf near 71°S 008°W by PALAOA, AWI’s listening station north of the German Antarctic Neumayer station and some other offshore recording locations, where autonomous [...] whale is the smallest baleen whale occurring in the Southern Ocean. It is regularly sighted near the sea ice edge but also occurs within the pack ice. The Antarctic minke whale produces a very unique sound

Dry Aprils pave the way for summer droughts in Central Europe Find out more > High North News | 22.09.2020 Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to Second-Lowest Extent Amid Record High Temperatures Find out more > Spiegel

is usually done visually by marine mammal observers. However, night-time, reduced visibility (rough seas, fog, rain, etc.) or observer fatigue and distraction all limit the reliability of visual monitoring [...] commercial, cooled 360° thermal imaging sensor. After more than 10 years of research ashore and at sea, we captured thousands of whale cues (mostly blows and bodily displays) on video and analysed the data [...] environmental conditions (fog being the major impediment). Based on this comprehensive operational at-sea experience, we reframed our Tashtego software and are now in the final stages of finishing the most

How alarming are the ammunition remnants of two world wars still lying in old wrecks at the bottom of the North Sea and other seas? The EU-funded international project "North Sea Wrecks" investigated these questions, diving to wrecks in the North Sea, taking samples and analysing them. In a symposium on 19 and 20 April 2023 at the Alfred Wegener Institute, the project partners now presented the results. For more information, see this press release from the German Maritime Museum (DSM), which led the project.